10 Firefox tips and tricks for Windows users

Mozilla Firefox is one of the popular alternative browsers for Windows PC. It works great right out of the box, but you can get better results with it using some simple Firefox tips and tricks. While Firefox is good when it is about customization, features, and safety, some simple tricks can make it even faster and more efficient. In this post, we will talk about some known and some not so known tips and tricks for Firefox browser.

Firefox tips and tricks

While there is a huge list of keyboard shortcuts, some of them can make your browsing experience really fast. Firefox has some simple keyboard shortcuts, just use them once or twice and you will be an expert at it. Some of the most commonly used shortcuts include-

Ctrl+T- Open new tab

Ctrl+ W- Close tab

Ctrl+Tab- Check all tabs open

Ctrl+1-9-jump to a specific tab without using your mouse

Ctrl+F- find

CTRL+R (or) F5- Reload

2. Customize Your Control Panel

Go to the Firefox Menu and click on the +Customize button on the bottom. You can customize the control panel from here. Add or Remove the items on the Control Panel. Simply drag and drop the tools and features from the Left panel to the window on Right. You can also change the theme of your Firefox browser from here. Click on the Theme button on the bottom and select the color scheme you want. Click on Exit Customize button once you are done with the preferred settings.

3. Save and organize your bookmarks

Firefox offers a single click bookmarking. Just click once on the Star on your location bar and the page is bookmarked. Click twice on the Star and you can edit your settings with bookmarks. You can edit the title of your bookmark, add tags and also change the location where you want to save it. Tagging with keywords is a simple and nice way to organize your bookmarks and provides you a quick access to your bookmarks. Once you add a tag, Firefox will offer it as an option whenever you save a bookmark. Once your tags are set with your bookmarks, you can visit all websites tagged with a particular keyword by just typing the tag on the location bar.

4. Open multiple websites in Firefox

You can open multiple websites on one go with Firefox. Go to the Menu and select Options. Under the Start Up tab, you have the option to select the Home Page, add the URLs of all websites you want to open. Relaunch the Firefox browser and you will see all those websites opening.

5. Search inside any website

Create a search keyword and get better search results within a website with just a simple tweak in your Firefox browser. Open any website in Firefox browser, right-click on the search box and select “Add a Keyword for this Search.” It will open a small pop-up window where you can create a particular keyword for your search. Once added, you can use this search keyword for direct search on your address bar.

6. Handy Firefox Config Tweaks

Type about:config in the address bar and you will see a list of configuration settings of your browser. The function, however, comes with a pop-up warning “This might void your warranty!” Make sure you know what you are doing. Here you can change the settings you want. Just double click on any setting you want and make the preferred changes. For example, if you want to change the maximum number of requests, double click on network.http.pipelining.maxrequests and set the desired number. Take a look at some of the very useful Firefox about:config tweaks .

7. Tab Previews

This is yet another tweak of Firefox from the about:config settings page. Go to the configuration settings of Firefox and select browser.ctrlTab.previews. Double click and the value will automatically toggle from False to True. Now to preview the thumbnails of open tabs, click and hold Ctrl + Tab keys on your keyboard.

Firefox shows all your recently visited websites as a thumbnail grid on the homepage. You can customize the thumbnails settings and pin any of your favorite tabs on the home page using the about:config screen. The default arrangement for the thumbnails is of a 4×3 grid.

Type about:config in the address bar and the list of settings will open up. Select browser.newtabpage.rows and browser.newtabpage.columns, double click and make the required changes. The changes take effect instantly.

9. Master Password

Firefox can work as your password manager too. You can save all your login IDs and password on Firefox browser and also set up a master password to protect all the saved passwords and login details. Go to the Firefox Menu and select Options. Under the Security Tab, you have to check the tab saying ‘Use Master Password’. This will open a pop-up window where you can add the master password to protect all your login details. Make sure that you remember the Master Password, or else you won’t be able to view any of the data it protects.

10. Scroll up/down with Spacebar

You don’t need to touch your mouse to scroll down the page and enjoy the uninterrupted reading experience with Spacebar key. The Spacebar key lets you scroll down the page and to scroll up, just press Shift +Spacebar.

These are some of the best Firefox tips and tricks for saving you time and working better. Let us know if we missed something.

Shiwangi is a qualified writer and a blogger, who loves to dabble with and write about computers. While focusing on and writing on technology topics, her varied skills and experience enables her to write on any topics which may interest her. Creating a System Restore Point first before installing a new software, and being careful about any third-party offers while installing freeware is recommended.